In electrophotographic image forming devices, such as laser printers, toner particles are used to form a desired image on print media. The print media is often paper, although a wide variety of different print media may be employed. Once the toner is applied to the media, the media is advanced along a media path to a fuser. In some image forming devices the fuser includes a fuser roller and a mating pressure roller. As the media passes between the fuser roller and the pressure roller, the toner is fused to the media through a process using heat and pressure.
Pursuant to many applications, it is desirable to maintain a substantially uniform pressure in the interference area between the fuser roller and the pressure roller. This interference area is often referred to as the nip. In applications where the axial length of the pressure roller is short, such as is used for printing on narrow media, the pressure roller is relatively rigid and does not deflect substantially when the force of the fuser roller is applied. Longer pressure rollers, however, do tend to deflect substantially when the force of the fuser roller is applied. Likewise, the fuser roller may also deflect under the force from the pressure roller. When deflected, the pressure roller takes a somewhat bowed shape, which may result in uneven pressure at the nip. This uneven, or non-uniform, pressure may result in degraded print quality, wrinkled print media, or other undesirable consequences.
Hence, a system and method for addressing these and other problems is needed.